UCD Library Special Collections has just completed the cataloguing of a major new W. B. Yeats Collection that it received as a donation in 2015. The interest of the collection stems not only for its contents, but also from the story of how it was gathered together and how it reached UCD Library. From the …
We’ve been Nominated!!
UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections blog has been long listed in the Blog Awards Ireland 2018. Yippee!!! With over 2,000 entries we were nominated in two categories; Best Arts & Culture Blog and Best Education & Science Blog. To read all the amazing blogs that were nominated in 29 hugely diverse categories click here. So …
The Poor Law Commission
'The cabin generally of the most miserable description, the furniture corresponding. The bed, a small quantity of straw and an indifferent blanket; sheets none.’ Thus James Kirwan Esq. J.P. describes the housing, furnishings and bedding in the parish of Tuam, Co Galway in 1836 in answer to a questionnaire sent out by the Royal Commission …
Sphagnum Moss to the Rescue
Irish Bogs contain an abundance of a particular type of moss known as sphagnum which has antiseptic and absorbent qualities. During WWI, this moss was gathered by female volunteers across the country and then sewn into cloth dressings which were sent to hospitals on the continent for the war wounded. UCD Special Collections holds the …
Happy Birthday Mr. Kinsella
On 4th May 2018, Irish poet Thomas Kinsella turned 90 years old. An event hosted by the Lord Mayor of Dublin to mark this occasion was held in the Mansion House. UCD Library Special Collections holds the Thomas Kinsella Collection, containing over 700 items including books, pamphlets and ephemera which Kinsella generously donated to UCD …
The Foundling Hospital
This blog post is about a grim institution of 18th century Dublin and contains details that some readers may find upsetting. The many commuters who use the Luas St. James's stop everyday are almost certainly aware that they are very near to the site of the proposed new National Children’s Hospital. It is unlikely though, …
The Patriot Parliament
The Palles Law Library in UCD Library Special Collections holds four extremely rare late 17th century Irish printings relating to the Irish parliament called by King James II in 1689. These are 4 Acts of that parliament which met for one session between May and July 1689 in Dublin. James II supporters were hopeful that …
Have a Very Merry Christmas
As this will be our final blog post of 2017, we at UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections (CHC) decided to end the year with some beautiful Christmas cards from within the UCD Archives collections. The Christmas cards above and below were sent to Jack and Máire Sweeney by Jacob Bronowski and his wife Rita through the 1960s. …
Cease fire for Christmas?
With December only a day away UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections (CHC) have created an online Happy Heritage Advent Calendar to count you down to that magical of all days, Christmas. This advent calendar picks images from the various Cultural Heritage Collections Units (UCD Archives, UCD Special Collections, National Folklore Collection and the Digital Library) to not …
Mr Kavanagh Goes to America
Just over a decade before his death in 1967, the poet Patrick Kavanagh – a man equally at home in the fields of Monaghan and the pubs of Dublin – visited America for the first time. In the Kavanagh Archive at UCD Special Collections the poet’s two late transatlantic trips can be traced through letters and …
